Sheepdog Nationals!!!

The National Championship Sheepdog Finals were held in Klamath Falls last week. It seemed like a major event for our small town, so the boys and I did not want to miss it. Friday afternoon we headed out on what should have been a 15 minute drive to a ranch near lower Klamath Lake. Unfortunately, for the first time our GPS failed us in a major way. It took us way out to Merrill then had us on unknown dirt roads, at least one time through (possibly) private property, and finally into a cattle ranch. At this point, nearly an hour into an unwanted tour of rural Klamath Country, I decided it was time to take the bull by the horns, throwing caution to the wind I handed the GPS to C and we were navigating blind.

The GPS remained on, and we listened while she (female voice) announced repeatedly in a most perturbed voice that she was "recalculating." On another road trip somebody (Jill?) named her "Hillary" because of her spicy demeanor. On this day "Hillary" seemed too nice as a nickname.

At last our trek through the county was completed and we arrived at the National Championships. Unfortunately our car was covered in a measurable layer of dust. We saw the last three competitors of the day. It was A-MAZE-ING! Perhaps my astonishment can be attributed to the fact that our own dog only listens to us begrudgingly and then only some of the time. These dogs were working, at times over a quarter mile from their handlers, responding to whistle commands and moving the sheep quite effectively through a series of fences and into a corral!

Here are a couple of shots of the boys in front of the competition field. In the distance, and to right of K you can see a couple of the gates that the dogs had to move the sheep through.




I'm not sure why K quickly moved away from a visibly amused C.



I'm posting a short video of the dog at work, but it really doesn't do justice to the incredible ability of the dogs and their handlers. The boys really enjoyed watching the dogs work, mostly I think because of the large timer counting down the minutes for the handler and her dog to complete their tasks. Each handler started with 13 minutes. At that point the 4 sheep were about a quarter mile across the field. The boys couldn't stay in their seats, always leaning up to get a better view of the clock and to relay that information to me as the seconds ticked away.



On our way out we stopped to see the agility demonstration. As the handler was setting up she sort of tauntingly asked the boys if they thought they were faster than her dog. C got sort of shy, and hung back, but K was quite confident that he could beat her dog. The handler then asked if K would like a head start. K was unwilling to accept any unfair advantage...he should have. On the first try that little dog got out fast and never looked back. But on the second try, when he was offered another opportunity for a head start K accepted. This time he won, but not by much. Here is a video of K's second race. In the end you'll hear my voice saying, "Aw, she got yah." But positioned behind the lens, I didn't have the vantage of the handler who pronounced K the winner.